Incense and Sensibility

Summary:

The author of Recipe for Persuasion—“not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today” (Shelf Awareness)—adds an Indian American twist to Jane Austen’s classic Sense and Sensibility in this delightful retelling that is a feast for the senses.

Yash Raje, California’s first serious Indian gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants—and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: If you control your feelings you can control the world around you.

But when a bigot with a gun attempts to assassinate him,  critically injuring his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust—his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by her grandmother and mother immersed in the practice of yoga long before it became trendy, India has helped San Francisco’s stressed-out overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man with his simmering intensity and absolute faith in his political beliefs is like no other client she’s ever had. Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed.

India knows that for Yash to heal, he must face the feelings he’s buried, including the ones they once shared—a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens the life he’s crafted for himself. Sorting through the lies to get to the truth might be the only way to save him but it’s also guaranteed to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community . . . until now.